Take A Game Break! – Solipskier

You work hard for your money! Uh-huh, uh-huh! So hard for it, honey! Uh-huh, uh-huh! You work hard for your money… so why don’t you take a game break!

Oh yeah! Wednesday is here, and so am I for another game break. Aren’t you lucky!

September begins today, and soon the dark-dusky settings of Fall, and finally Winter, will be here. Time to then get out the heavy coats and mittens, stock up on hot cocoa packets, as the cold miserable depths of the later half of the year descends upon the Northern Hemisphere. Not a pleasant feeling at all.

But hey, not everything about Winter is truly bad. For lucky patrons living in mountainous areas, the fun of snow activities, such as skiing, can make the icy season vastly enjoyable. And by taking advantage of said inspiration, I decided to pick Solipskier as today’s game break — so strap on your ski goggles and let’s hit the slopes amigos!

Simplistic in its design and visuals, “Solipskier” is a skiing score-attack game that is both instantly addictive and fun, and is nowhere near as dull, or yeti ridden, as that down-hill ski game that came with your copy of Windows 98.

In “Solipskier”, you don’t take direct control of your skier, but rather the snowy slopes by clicking and dragging your mouse. The more downward the slope you make, the faster your little skier buddy will go, plus if you drag your cursor at the right angle and moment, it will send you airborne just like the flying tomato himself, Shaun White.

Timing this mechanic, along with passing through green-colored ski gates at that precise moment, will not only multiply your score, but will also give you a neat rainbow-colored cape.

Boy, I really do love that rainbow cape, and importantly, it adds a vital layer to the game in two folds. 1) It gives the player incentive to keep your speed up and do more tricks and jumps, because if you don’t, you lose it. And 2) It brings a colorful bright spark to the minimalistic black and white graphics. It’s an awesome touch I have to say, and I just did.

But of course, just like a real-life ski course, there are obstacles too. Like red gates that you can’t pass through, or jumps were you can’t drag over, so you must time jumps appropriately, or you’ll quickly fall to your doom. Game over.

With “Solipskier,” again, it’s all about gaining the most points before your wipe out — which I found especially enjoyable and executed perfectly. Although I do recommend using a mouse instead of the touch pad of a laptop, because I kinda found it hard to drag and click. But then I’m sure it could also be a scenario of “try-it-your-self-and-see-how-it-feels-for-you” case.

Better yet, with Twitter and Facebook connectivity, you can take pleasure in a good bit of competition between you and your friends. So have at it!

Oh, and if your too up the brim with paperwork today to play “Solipskier,” great news! It’s available mobile style, on the Apple iPhone, with an announcement of an Android version coming real soon. They promise!